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Loren Booda
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Does President Bush back pharmacists and doctors who forbid filling and prescribing the Pill, being an improbable abortifacient?
Is Bush not only "Pro-Life" but also a believer of personhood at conception? I guess that's to make up for all those body-bagged back in Baghdad. "Onward Christian soldiers!" (as long as they're the working poor
russ_watters said:I'm pretty sure Bush isn't Catholic.
JohnDubYa, I attempted to express my anger over the hypocrisy by those who claim to be pro-life for zygotes, yet callously send people to suffer their deaths in a contrived slaughter over materialism in Iraq.
The reference to the Crusades denotes that we have been fighting basically the same bloodbath for millennia, to end in Armageddon (which our president may believe to be his legacy).
Bush is against furthering stem cell research, yet culls those in the prime of life for the war in Iraq. He spends more resources trying not to lose face there and forces our ideals of democracy upon their majority.
JohnDubYa said:ray, I don't even think the most hard-core Christians consider sex evil. Now pre-marital sex, sure.
Do you have any quotes from Bush that back your statement that he considers sex evil?
Proving it would be the best thing, but come on, would it be absurd to assume that Bush is anti-birth control? This is probably old news to you guys but it is widely known that Bush is a born again evangelical. One of the main characteristics of an evangelical is that they believe the Bible is the ultimate authority, period. To an evangelical the Bible is INFALLIBLE! Now I believe that this belief represents a huge gaffe, and a serious deficiency in objective and logical thinking, but that is for another thread. The point is this: If you accept that Bush is an evangelical, the new question is what does the Bible have to say about birth control. Without being a theologian I can guess that somewhere within the good book it condemns it.if you want to claim that he's anti-birth control, all you have to do is prove it.
"Judah said to Onan, ‘Go into your brother’s wife, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.’ But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so when he went into his brother’s wife he spilled the semen on the ground, lest he should give offspring to his brother. And what he did was displeasing in the sight of the Lord, and he slew him also" (Gen. 38:8–10).
The site mentions that the Bible has little information about birth control because it is so obviously wrong. So now I guess the question is do you think Bush is an evangelical?Deuteronomy 23:1 condemns birth control by sterilization: "He whose testicles are crushed or whose male member is cut off shall not enter the assembly of the Lord."
JohnDubYa,Bush is against furthering stem cell research, yet culls those in the prime of life for the war in Iraq. He spends more resources trying not to lose face there and forces our ideals of democracy upon their majority.
You overlook a thousand dead American servicemen, whose lives were less protected by questionable Bush policy than fertilized eggs.I don't recall any zygotes murdering hundreds of thousands of Shi'ias and Kurds. I don't recall any zygotes snubbing their nose at UN resolutions. If there ever was a zygote that did such reprehensible actions, I am sure George W. would be in favor of killing it.
You overlook a thousand dead American servicemen, whose lives were less protected by questionable Bush policy than fertilized eggs.
Assume that birth control pills can rarely cause an "abortion" of a primitive blastula. What other myriad abortifacient substances should also be banned, as a result of extending the fundamentalist pro-life logic? How is unprofessional use of these more dangerous drugs justified by those forcing out most effective, safe and well used contraceptives? Back to the chemical coathanger.
The standard of efficacy and safety which the Pill established is rarely surpassed among all other pharmacopeia. If the repeal of Roe vs Wade is controversial, what would the denial of oral contraceptives bring? The fundamentalists are wringing their hands.
Thanks for your good faith attempt at balanced responses, JohnDubYa. I guess my main concern is the seeming hypocritically disparate "values" of our president. Which is preferred policy - a slim chance of preserving the existence of a zygote, or saving the life of our youth from a very questionable war in Iraq?
On these issues, it seems that Bush would rather support his deadly crusade for oil than hold a more reasonable view on contraception.
I support peaceful energy conservation over a papal-like stance on the definition of life. The question remains: how does one consistantly respect life as the leader of the United States?
I think Bush less evil or uncaring than misled, especially by the evangelical ethic of world supremacy.
I supported the invasion of Afghanistan, harboring a proven, direct menace to the United States. Give me some idea why he chose to attack Iraq rather than say North Korea, whose atomic weapons may soon be sold to terrorists.
I back allied troops now in their struggle for a resolution to the Iraq conflict, but I criticize our president for his "caution to the wind" approach when not considering the voices of worldwide Islam.
Saddam's butchery? Send in an assassin.
Aside: Do you think Bush would win over an electorate who actually knew of his basic philosophy denying any reproductive privacy a woman might have, and lived without the fear of an impending repeat attack threatened by his lieutenant?
I think Bush less evil or uncaring than misled, especially by the evangelical ethic of world supremacy.
Your solution to Saddam's butchery is simplistic and completely unworkable. So we are back to square one: What to do about Saddam and his habit of killing thousands of people on a regular basis.
I listen to Christian counseling on the radio most every night, and their main objective is to convert unbelievers, reflected also in their commercials. I am fairly sure this is the main effort of most conservative Christians, to "save" nonbelievers through ensuring worldwide their belief that Christ is their Saviour, ultimately through Armageddon.
So we wage war on all those who commit genocide but do not have nuclear capability?
The continent of black Africa is wide open, but we have made ineffective inroads to the millions killed there. Two major selfish reasons for attacking Iraq: oil and Israel. The former is our addiction through wasteful usage in, e. g., SUVs and huge houses, and the latter with a government who spies on us and have killed scores of our sailors. Perhaps we should question the motives involving billions of dollars annually wasted through these money sinks.
I find it hard to square the idea that this is 'obvious' with the reasoning the administration offered for the war beforehand. As presented by the White House, this factor seemed at the time to run far behind other rationales such as WMD. While there are people for whom the calculus you refer to was a chief reason for supporting the war (although some of those now see our presence in Iraq as a disaster and sharply regret their earlier support), I have no reason to believe that it was Bush's. (It goes without saying (right?) that this is not an argument in support of Bush being an indiscriminate killer.)JohnDubYa said:He obviously thought he was saving hundreds of thousands of lives in the long run by ending the sanctions and Saddam's dictatorship, and he was almost certainly right.
Terrible argument. In order for this to make sense, you would have to show thatLet me repeat: We did not invade Iraq to control oil supplies.
How much were we paying for oil four years ago? How much are we paying now?
I find it hard to square the idea that this is 'obvious' with the reasoning the administration offered for the war beforehand.
Ok, if considered solely in the context of squaring Bush's Christian values with possible outcomes for Iraq that might follow from invasion, there's no real problem. However, those outcomes do not happen in a vacuum. Morally, the attack upon Afghanistan incurred an obligation on the part of the U.S., an obligation Bush publicly promised to fulfil. I'm not sure why you would define these consideration as political rather than moral or ethical. (Was that what was intended by saying I'm off topic?)JohnDubYa said:Most of your post is off-topic. This isn't a political debate, but rather an ethical debate. We are discussing whether or not the lives lost during the invasion gels with Bush' Christian views. All I am saying is that, privately, Bush must have considered the lives that he would be saving in the long run, which would make invasion acceptable to him on a moral level.
Morally, the attack upon Afghanistan incurred an obligation on the part of the U.S., an obligation Bush publicly promised to fulfil. I'm not sure why you would define these consideration as political rather than moral or ethical. (Was that what was intended by saying I'm off topic?)
As for the second section of my post, the concern is logical. It appears you are trying to back up the idea that the Iraq invasion is not about oil by with the implication in your questions that current oil prices indicate that the U.S. does not "have control of oil supplies". These ideas do not connect directly.
ok... I don't disagree, but how is this a response to the quote that preceded it?JohnDubYa said:Morally, Bush was under no obligation to inflict violence on Afghanistan according to Christian scripture, and was certainly under no moral obligation to invade Iraq. He did so only because he was able to square in his own mind that the loss of life would be justified.
Your points above were, in fact, the argument I drew from your original post. Also, I never said that he has benefitted in those terms, I said the argument fails to prove that it wasn't part of his intentions. (And I also explicitly stated that is not a proof of the converse viewpoint.)1. Prices have risen, which usually indicates less control of supply. If you truly control the supply, you control the prices. If I commit acts that guarantees that I can have all the potatoes I want, I am not going to pay as much for potatoes. Controlling supply is controlling prices, because we already could buy as much oil as we wanted; we simply didn't like the price tag.
2. High oil prices have hurt Bush politically.
So tell me again why Bush's invasion of Iraq was all about oil. From an oil standpoint, where has he benefitted?
Considering, however, that on more or less every count other than removing Saddam from power, the excursion to Iraq has either failed abysmally or is in a state of uncertainty...
I can agree that this is a good thing. It's also a fairly direct result of removing Saddam from power. Whether that it means it was effectively "included" in my original statement or not doesn't seem worth arguing about.JohnDubYa said:Really? The last time I looked the sanctions that had killed thousands had actually been lifted.
Hmm, this is right up there with "she was asking for it"...Bush has given Iraq a golden opportunity. I can't blame Bush if too many in the population are too stupid to understand that blowing up your own infrastructure and killing your own people are bad things to do.
I already agreed with this for Iraq considered as an isolated case. You still haven't addressed the idea considered in the context of Afghanistan.And, to move back on topic, Bush' actions certainly were consistent with his Christian views.
President Bush has stated that he believes in abstinence as the most effective form of birth control and that contraception should be used only in cases where abstinence is not possible.
President Bush has stated that his stance on contraception is in line with his Christian beliefs, as he believes in the sanctity of human life and that contraception goes against the natural order of procreation.
During his presidency, President Bush implemented policies that limited access to contraception, such as the Global Gag Rule which restricted funding for international family planning organizations that provided or even discussed abortion services.
President Bush has stated that he supports the use of contraception in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother's life is in danger. However, he has also expressed concerns about the use of emergency contraception, also known as the "morning-after pill".
The public's response to President Bush's stance on contraception has been mixed. Some have praised his adherence to Christian beliefs, while others have criticized the limitations on access to contraception and the potential impact on women's health and reproductive rights.